Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
This short work on the Holy Spirit looks at how depedent man is on Him. Nothing, argues Moody, can be accomplished outside the Spirit, in terms of doing good for God. He is the ‘power’ by which we walk the Christian life.
Moody begins by focussing on the personality and full Divinity of the Spirit and denying this idea He is a power divorced from full personhood. Slightly unfortunately, Moody uses the the comma Johanneum (1 John 5:7 – 8) as proof text. I am against the inclusion of this verse into the canon, but it is understandable given the state of English translation at the time of Moody’s writing.
In analysing the preaching of the Word, which Moody maintains is vital to true Gospel ministry, the Spirit’s role here is a revelatory one. The revelation of God comes by the Word and through the power of the Spirit. In fact, Moody shrewdly rebuts the misnomer that we have to, in some way, ask or invite the Spirit to dwell within us and within the Church. The truth is, He has never left and has been with us and in us since the very beginning of the Church age – a shall be present until the end. Indeed, he says:
“Our work is not to make them believe; that is the work of the Spirit. Our work is to give them the Word of God – not to preach our theories and our ideas about it but to deliver the message as God gives it to us”
Another area of contention in the book is that of the works we perform through the Spirit as believers. Moody gives a good explanation of the “greater works” referenced in John 14:12 that will be performed by the Spirit after Jesus was ascended. He argues that the Spirit’s work of the subjugation of man’s will from sinning and God-hating is greater even than the raising of the dead.
Following the theme of the Spirit in the life of believers, Moody expounds the fruit of the Spirit, showing how the aspects of the fruit manifest in piety and practice. I found his distinction between God – oriented (love, joy, peace), man – oriented (patience, kindness, goodness), and self – oriented (faithfulness, gentleness, and self control) a helpful one. This is followed by a section on the unforgivable sin. Moody rightly distinguishes between grieving the Holy Spirit and committing the unforgivable sin of calling the Holy Spirit evil and thus blaspheming Him.
Moody also makes a point about the preaching ministery of the churches in his day. He calls out churches that are simply providing worldly amusements – they take up their time with fairs, raffles, dramas, and musical entertainment rather than actual, Spirit filled worship. It was almost like he had modern congregations in mind! His critique against such churches is strong. He ends his critique by giving a great exhortation for cross centred preaching:
“Our failure now is that preachers ignore the cross and hide Christ with sapless sermons and superfine language. They don’t present Him to the people in a simple fashion, and I believe that is why the Spirit of God doesn’t work with power in our churches” Again, he could well have been talking about contemporary pulpits.
However, Moody in the next section goes further than simply a call to cross – centred preaching, and slips into revivalism theology. He says, in essence “If our churches do this, then we will experience the Spirit in this way…”. He implies if only the church were to fulfill a certain conditon, then we will experience a particular manifestation of God’s power. We will “have conversions all the time” (p. 106). Praying for God’s revival is all well and good, but I think Moody tips into revivalism here. He even belittles churches for not counting/boasting in their conversions.
Furthermore, I did disagree with his statement that “A man or a woman who is downcast is not fit to work for God” on the basis of Nehemiah 8:10. He seems to be equating “service of God” with “evangelistic outreach” and the two are not synonymous. Moreover, there are plenty of ways to serve God whilst under the weight depression or other forms of mental suffering.
Also, on the very last page, Moody makes a troubling statement that seems to implying that the Father is wrathful, the Son is wrathful but the Spirit is “the gentle, innocent, meek, and loving one”. Yikes.
Moody’s writing style is full of short sentences. He is punchy and sometimes witty, with some sarcasm thrown in on occasion. The book is an easy to read, especially for its time (late 19th century). Each section is concise and broken into small chunks and relatively self contained. A couple of odd comments at the end excepted, a fine treatment of the work of the Spirit in the life of the Church.
Reformed Brit 